In biology, the word matrix is used for the material between animal or plant cells, or generally the material (or "tissue") in which more specialized structures are embedded, and also specifically for one part of the mitochondrion. The internal structure of connective tissues is a extracellular matrix.
The term matrix is also used for the "medium" in which bacteria are grown (or "cultured"), so a Petri dish of agar may be the matrix for culturing a sample swabbed from someone's sore throat.
This nonchromosomal DNA encodes a small number of mitochondrial peptides (13 in humans) that are integrated into the inner mitochondrial membrane, along with proteins encoded by genes that reside in the host cell's nucleus.
Studies of mitochondrial DNA, which is often circular and employs a variant genetic code, show their ancestor, the so-called proto-mitochondrion, was a member of the Proteobacteria.
Mitochondrial ribosomes are the 70S (bacterial) type, in contrast to the 80S ribosomes found elsewhere in the cell.
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